Stern has said before that owners were divided between traditionalists that wanted no advertisements and some who were ready to go full European soccer (if not NASCAR). Yes, Mark Cuban, but not just him. Last year during the NBA finals when the owners met they were shown mock-ups of options to consider.

Most observers expected a compromise — some small logo on the uniforms just above the chest approaching the shoulder (where the NBA logo is now) seemed a compromise. The teams would put a little more money in their pocket and it wasn’t intrusive or overwhelming.

But there apparently was no compromise. Does that mean the NBA’s finances are good enough that some owners are now willing to forgo revenue streams?

The owners will take the ads on jerseys issue up again when the meet in April, according to the report. You can bet this is going to happen some day, but that day is not today.

And putting a small 2-inch by 2-inch adverting patch on the shoulder of NBA jerseys can generate a lot of money, NBA Deputy Commissioner told the NBA owners on Thursday. Then he said the same things to reporters after, as reported by Kevin Arnovitz at ESPN.

“Our view is we think, on an aggregate basis, league-wide, our 30 teams could generate in total $100 million by selling that patch on jerseys, per season,” Silver said.

If you were paying attention during the lockout, you know the owners are not going to walk away from $1 let alone $100 million or so. Silver said he thought all 30 NBA owners were good with this in some form — some probably wanted to go full English Premiere League but the idea of a patch on the shoulder is less intrusive to tradition.

And they are wasting no time.

“I think it’s likely that we’ll do something, implement something, some sort of plan for the fall,” NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver said. “I think it’s fair to say that our teams were excited about the opportunity and think there is potentially a big opportunity in the marketplace to put a two-by-two patch on the shoulder of our jerseys.”

He said it should be in full force by the season after next.

Some fans will hate this with a white-hot passion.

I’m not one of them. I think a patch on the shoulder is not that intrusive, especially if the design is controlled. (There will be lengthy lists of companies teams cannot sell to, including competitors of league sponsors). The league might let Adidas — the league’s official jersey maker — use their logo on there. Or some simple symbol (say the McDonald’s golden arches or the “AA” of American Airlines) would not be a big distraction, but would get plenty of airtime.

Like it or not, you’re going to see it next year. And if you go into the team story to buy the new Raymond Felton Knicks jersey (hey, somebody might) the ad will be there on it, too. Seriously.

Check out the D-League playoffs (now in the semi-finals) and you may notice something — a BBVA bank logo on the back of every jersey. All-season those jerseys have had the adidas logo (they are the jersey manufacturer) on the upper right chest area but the bank ad is new for the playoffs.

BBVA’s logo will be featured across the back of all jerseys during the NBA D-League playoffs, the league announced Monday. It’s the first time a marketing partner will have brand exposure on a D-League jersey other than adidas, the league’s official outfitter.

BBVA, a financial service institution, is the presenting partner of the NBA D-League playoffs and finals.

I’m telling you, the day is coming. In two seasons they are not going to replace “Celtics” with “Sprite” across the chest, but the adidas logo could show up like it does on the D-League jersey. Another logo smaller on the back is possible. And it will grow from there. Other sports (not just soccer and NASCAR) will follow suit.

There will not be sponsors names across the chest of NBA teams next season. The NBA will not look like the English Premiere League.

But come the 2013-14 season… maybe.

At their meetings this week in New York, NBA owners had what Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver called a “robust” discussion about the idea of putting some kind of advertising on NBA jerseys.

“We told our owners that it was not something we were considering doing for next season, but that it was something we should at least discuss doing for the season after next,” Silver said.

That discussion included mock-ups of potential looks.

“We presented to our owners some mocked up jerseys, mannequins, not models, that showed various iterations of logos, sizes of logos, placements of logos,” Silver said. “We showed them some of the traditional soccer jerseys used in Europe and we showed them some of the valuations that soccer jerseys are currently getting and some estimates of ranges of values for logo rights on NBA jerseys.”

In the end, those valuations are what will matter — money talks. And if there is enough money in it NBA owners will toss tradition out the window in a New York minute.

The first steps here do not have to be what was seen in the WNBA, where corporate logos replaced team logos across the front of the jersey. It could be as simple as all 30 NBA teams having a McDonald’s “golden arches” on their shoulder above the logo. Or maybe uniform manufacturer adidas would pay to put their logo on the uniforms in a less obtrusive way.

But make no mistake, steps towards ads on jerseys are starting. The owners, like fans in general, are split on the issue.

“I would say we had a full and robust discussion and a range of opinions from one end of the spectrum, which was, let’s not do anything like that, to why aren’t we considering it for next season,” Silver said. You can bet the “why not next year” guy was Mark Cuban.

“We told them there was additional discussions we need to have with our apparel manufacturer, adidas. We wanted to have additional discussions with our television partners, as well as our major marketing partners to get their reaction to it and we will continue to talk to the teams about it, as well.”

I hate to tell you this, but it’s going to happen someday — there will be corporate advertising on NBA jerseys.

How soon may be decided when the Board of Governors (read: the owners) meet next month to discuss league business. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has been pushing for the idea for a while and restated that to the Star-Telegram (hat tip to SLAM).

“If the amount’s enough, David (Stern) will jump up and down,” Cuban said. “He’s not going to do it for $200,000 from Power Balance, but if somebody offers us $25 million, it’s done. We just have to work out the split with all the teams so everybody gets the benefits.”

The first foray into this will not be some European soccer type move where the company name replaces the team name (something also done in the WNBA). More than likely it would be something like Adidas (who already makes the NBA jerseys) getting to place its logo prominently on the jerseys. Or maybe something like McDonald’s “golden arches” on all the uniforms up near the shoulder. Something that you notice but is more subtle as opposed to something garish.

How much that is worth, and are there companies willing to pay it, are the real questions. I know the idea offends some American sports fans, but that doesn’t matter. The day is coming, sooner or later.